With the Red Sox, actions — as in none — speak louder than words, and other thoughts
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Apologists and folks who've stopped paying attention cite 'four World Series in this century,' enabling Boston ownership to perpetuate this farce.
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Face it, people . . . at this hour, the glories of 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018 may as well be 1918. What happened in the first 16 years of this ownership group has nothing do with how the team operates today. Sox fans who cling to 21st century banners (2003-18) sound like Yankees fans still basking in the glow of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle.
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The Sox just told you (and their players) that they do not believe this team is good enough to make a serious playoff run. While the Yankees, Mariners, Rangers, Tigers, Astros, Blue Jays, and Royals made serious moves at the deadline, the Red Sox dealt for 34-year-old journeyman lefty reliever Steven Matz and Dodgers starter Dustin May (6-7, 4.85 ERA).
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When the DEADline passed, Boston's chief baseball officer Craig Breslow delivered the usual bon mots, saying 'We pursued impact players,' suggesting other teams weren't interested in Boston's vaunted farm system. Breslow concluded it was best to stick with the 26 big leaguers who are here now.
Swell.
I particularly liked this quintuple negative from Bres-Lowball: 'None of the deals that didn't end up being executed came from a lack of being aggressive or an unwillingness to get uncomfortable . . . '
Got that, baseball fans?
'I understand the frustration and disappointment,' added Breslow. 'Because we're all looking at the last week in terms of the trades that we made and weren't made and there's not a lot of sympathy for how hard we tried.'
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We thought Sox principal owner John Henry (who also owns the Globe) was going to reinvest some of the quarter-billion dollars saved when Boston dealt Rafael Devers — an impulse mid-June trade that brought no help for this year's team (bet Raffy would've brought more big league capital if the Sox waited 'til the deadline).
Why no big splash for a team that played so well leading into the deadline? Is it ownership's quest to stay under the luxury tax threshold? Is it a case of overrating and overvaluing prospects? Or is it the particularly galling notion that the Red Sox are content with the illusion of contention, no longer willing to go all-in for any single season?
The forever .500 Sox have won one playoff series and finished last three times in the last six seasons. CEO Sam Kennedy
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Do the Sox bosses care anymore? They know the ballpark is going to be full. They know the pink hats will sing the insipid song before the home half of the eighth.
We get no answers from silent ownership. Just more empty pledges from mouthpieces Kennedy and Breslow.
Remember when the pitching-poor Boston Braves had, 'Spahn and Sain and pray for rain' At the trade deadline of 2025, the Red Sox have 'May and Matz, now go watch the Pats.'
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⋅ Quiz: Name the four training camp sites for the Patriots since they were founded in 1960; 2: Name four players with multiple punt returns for touchdowns for the Patriots (answers below).
⋅ Bob Kraft certainly has a lot of 'visions' when it comes to hiring head coaches. During the Jerod Mayo debacle, Kraft insisted that the idea of making Mayo his coach came to him when the two visited Israel as part of an organizational trip to the Holy Land in 2019. In an interview with Kay Adams this past week, Kraft was asked when he knew Mike
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⋅
Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk isn't a fan of the way catchers play today.
O'Brien, Frank Globe Staff
⋅ All good Red Sox fans want to see classy
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⋅ Cooperstown leftovers: Ken Griffey Jr. is a legit photojournalist and took pictures of Rory McElroy winning the Masters earlier this year. Griffey joins former teammate (and fellow Hall of Famer) Randy Johnson, who's been taking photos for many years and just published his first book, featuring 100 photos of African wildlife: '
Baseball great Ken Griffey Jr. has moved on to a career in photograhy.
Ashley Landis/Associated Press
⋅ The Washington Post's Tom Boswell won the BBWAA's Career Excellence Award. The winner gets to ride on the Hall of Fame bus to the induction ceremony and ESPN's Tim Kurkjian remembers sitting with Sandy Koufax on the short ride three years ago. 'I was so nervous,' recalled Kurkjian. 'I wasn't sure what to say, but I knew he'd played basketball, so I asked him if he'd been able to dunk, and he loved that question. He had been a dunker and we talked about basketball for the entire ride to the ceremony.'
⋅ Seeing Lee Smith in Cooperstown (Smith is shockingly trim after a heart transplant) reminded me of what Frank Robinson said when the Red Sox acquired Smith from the Cubs for Al Nipper and Calvin Schiraldi at the 1987 Winter Meetings: 'The Red Sox just got a horse for two ponies.'
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⋅ Made it out to Polar Park Wednesday for IronPigs vs. WooSox. Dollar for dollar, it's still the best pro baseball fan experience in New England. The WooSox are enshrining Janet Marie Smith, Jarren Duran, and J.P. Ricciardi in their Hall of Fame Aug. 20. WooSox manager Chad Tracy is the son of former Dodgers manager Jim Tracy and remembers being around the clubhouse when Alex Cora played for LA.
⋅ Wondering why the Blue Jays are in first place? Maybe it's because they try to put the bat on the ball instead of swinging for homers on every pitch. Going into the weekend, the Jays were striking out 17.4 percent of the time, compared with a MLB average of 22 percent. It's the lowest strikeout rate since the world champion 2017 Astros (17.3 percent, and they knew what pitch was coming!)
The Blue Jays, who make a lot of contact, are in first place in the American League East.
Stephanie Scarbrough/Associated Press
⋅ Thirty-one-year-old Duncan Robinson, a product of The Governor's Academy in Byfieldand Williams College (before Michigan), will be the second-oldest player on the Pistons this coming season (Tobias Harris is 33). Undrafted out of Ann Arbor, Robinson earned $70 million in seven seasons with the Heat and is starting a three-year, $48 million deal with Detroit. The 6-foot-7-inch marksman is a career 39.7 percent 3-point shooter.
⋅ Here's wishing the best of health to Deion Sanders, who's been nothing short of heroic and brave in his bout with bladder cancer.
⋅ The Athletic put together a fascinating look at estimated values of big-time college football programs across America. Texas came in first, at an estimated $2.38 billion, followed by Georgia ($1.92 billion), Ohio State ($1.9 billion), Notre Dame ($1.85 billion), and Michigan ($1.83 billion). Boston College, the only New England school listed (makes me proud to live here), was ranked 64th with an estimated value of $172 million. The Athletic reported BC's average annual football revenue to be $43.1 million, compared with Notre Dame's average of $143 million.
⋅ Christine Brennan's outstanding book, '
⋅ Make sure to watch 'Taurasi,' a three-part documentary on UConn champion and women's basketball legend Diana Taurasi, which airs starting next Friday, on Amazon Prime Video. It is spectacular.
US basketball star Diana Taurasi won her sixth gold medal last summer.
Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press
⋅ Former Bills coach Marv Levy turns 100 on Sunday.
⋅ RIP Bill Margolin, longtime director of the West End House and Boys & Girls Club of Allston, and the West End House Camp in Parsonsfield, Maine. In almost seven decades of service to others, he impacted thousands of children across New England and beyond.
▪ Anagram of the week: Dustin May = Sad mutiny.
⋅ Quiz answer: 1: UMass Amherst (1960-61, 1969-75); Phillips Academy, Andover (1962-68); Bryant College, Smithfield, R.I. (1976-2002); Gillette Stadium (2003-25); 2: Julian Edelman (4), Irving Fryar (3), Troy Brown (3), Mike Haynes (2).
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at
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